DisplaySearch predicts plasma could die out by 2016

DisplaySearch director of TV research in Europe, Paul Gray, has added his opinion to the plasma debate by predicting that plasma could fall to less than 1 per cent of the overall flat panel television market within three years.

In a presentation to the IFA Press Conference in Sardinia on Saturday, Gray showed a slide where the share of the plasma market in 2016 was almost non-existent.

“We expect that plasma is going to continue to shrink. Actually plasma shipments have already started to go down,” Gray said.

He claims that a decade ago when the major investment into plasma was made, it was unclear as to whether LCD would be capable of being manufactured in larger sizes over 50-inches.

“Samsung and LG put their bets on both horses – LCD and plasma. Panasonic went with plasma and now the LCD industry has continued to increase its pace of innovation and LCD can now do sizes of anything up to 110 inches.”

“Panasonic have always been the guardians of high end plasma and are now repositioning that product,” Gray said.

He expects Panasonic will continue to protect the plasma heritage it has created in the near future by re-positioning the product to be targeted at AV-enthusiasts offering the best picture quality possible.